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Inner West Council is a
local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phrase i ...
located in the inner western region of
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...
in the state of
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , e ...
, Australia. The council makes up the eastern part of this wider region, and was formed on 12 May 2016 from the merger of the former Ashfield, Leichhardt and
Marrickville Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local government ...
councils. The Council comprises an area of and as at the had an estimated population of . The
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...
of Inner West Council is Darcy Byrne, elected by the councillors on 29 December 2021. An election on 4 December resulted in a
Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
majority.


History

In the early 2010s, the New South Wales Government explored merging various local government areas to create larger councils within Sydney. In 2013, the Independent Local Government Review Panel (ILGRP) initially proposed a merger of the six inner west councils - Burwood, Strathfield, Canada Bay, Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville, into a single council that would govern almost all of the inner west region.Merger Proposal: Burwood Council, City of Canada Bay Council, Strathfield Municipal Council
January 2016
Alternative mergers were also proposed, such as one between Auburn, Burwood and Canada Bay, or between Burwood, Canada Bay, Strathfield and Ashfield. The final proposal in the 2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the
Municipality of Ashfield The Municipality of Ashfield was a local government area in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is about west of the Sydney central business district. The municipality was proclaimed on 28 December 1871 as the "Borough of A ...
, the
Municipality of Leichhardt The Municipality of Leichhardt was a local government area in the inner-west region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is about west of the Sydney central business district. On 12 May 2016, Leichhardt merged with Marrickville Council ...
and the
Marrickville Council Marrickville Council was a local government area located in the inner west region of Sydney, Australia. It was originally created on 1 November 1861 as the "Municipality of Marrickville". On 12 May 2016, Marrickville Council was forcibly merged ...
merge to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately . On 12 May 2016, Ashfield Council,
Marrickville Council Marrickville Council was a local government area located in the inner west region of Sydney, Australia. It was originally created on 1 November 1861 as the "Municipality of Marrickville". On 12 May 2016, Marrickville Council was forcibly merged ...
and the
Municipality of Leichhardt The Municipality of Leichhardt was a local government area in the inner-west region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is about west of the Sydney central business district. On 12 May 2016, Leichhardt merged with Marrickville Council ...
merged to form the Inner West Council.


Proposed de-amalgamation

In December 2021, a majority of voters in Inner West Council voted in favour of reversing the 2016 merger and separating the three pre-existing councils of Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville. The final declared results were: 62.49% YES and 37.51% NO. In 2022, the council began preparing a business case for de-amalgamation.


Suburbs and localities in the local government area

are:


Demographics

At the , there were people in the Inner West local government area; of these 48.7 per cent were male and 51.3 per cent were female.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...
made up 1.1 per cent of the population; significantly below the NSW and Australian averages of 2.9 and 2.8 per cent respectively. The
median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fea ...
age of people in Inner West Council was 36 years; slightly lower than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 15.3 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 12.25 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 38.7 per cent were married and 10.8 per cent were either divorced or separated. At the 2016 census, the proportion of residents in the Inner West local government area who stated their
ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...
as
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...
or from Britain and Ireland exceeded 54 per cent of all residents. In excess of 51 per cent of all residents in Inner West Council nominated a no religious affiliation at the 2016 census, which was in excess of the national average of 40 per cent. Meanwhile, as at the census date, compared to the national average, households in the Inner West local government area had a higher than average proportion (31.4 per cent) where two or more languages are spoken (national average was 22.2 per cent); and a lower proportion (64.4 per cent) where
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
only was spoken at home (national average was 72.7 per cent).


Council

The Inner West Council comprises fifteen Councillors elected proportionally, with three Councillors elected in five
wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
. On 9 September 2017, the current council was elected for a fixed three-year term of office (which was extended for twelve months in 2020 and to December 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic); The mayor is appointed biennially and deputy mayor annually by the councillors at the first meeting of the council.


Officeholders


Current composition

The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021, and the makeup of the council by order of election, is as follows: Independents Victor Macri and Vittoria Raciti, the latter of whom formerly sat as a Liberal, both requested recounts in their respective wards. The NSW Electoral Commission denied these requests.


Town halls

The Inner West Council owns and maintains the three seats of the three pre-merger councils, being Ashfield Town Hall,
Petersham Town Hall The Petersham Town Hall is a heritage-listed town hall located at 107 Crystal Street in Petersham, a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, Australia. It was built in 1937–38 in the Inter-War Stripped Classical architectural style by architects ...
and
Leichhardt Town Hall The Leichhardt Town Hall is a landmark civic building in Leichhardt, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. It stands at 107 Norton Street. It was built in 1888 in the Victorian Italianate style by architects Drake and Walcott. The Town Hall was the sea ...
. In addition, the Council also owns the Marrickville, Balmain and St Peters town halls, which were the seats of municipal councils that had existed prior to their merger into the immediate predecessor councils.


Culture


Inner West Library Service

The ''Inner West Library Service'' consists of a network of 8 libraries located within the Inner West Council boundaries. After the Inner West Council amalgamation, a new library management system was launched on 1 March 2019, with a
soft launch A soft launch, also known as a soft opening, is a preview release of a product or service to a limited audience prior to the general public. Soft-launching a product is sometimes used to gather data or customer feedback, prior to making it widely ...
in late February allowing members to borrow from all libraries in the service. The libraries of the ''Inner West Library Service'' include: *Ashfield Library *Balmain Library *Emmanuel Tsardoulias Community Dulwich Hill Library *Haberfield Library *Leichhardt Library *Marrickville Library *Stanmore Library *St Peters/Sydenham Library


See also

*
Local government areas of New South Wales This is a list of local government areas (LGAs) in New South Wales, sorted by region. As of there were 128 local government areas in New South Wales, listed below in alphabetical order by region. There is also the Unincorporated Far West Regi ...


References


External links

{{coord, -33.892886, 151.15376, display=title 2016 establishments in Australia Local government areas in Sydney